General, non-spoilery discussion of the book will happen in this thread along with things like voting on cadence and linking of new weekly threads as they open.
This book is a little bit tricky to split up, so before opening a poll I’m opening the floor for discussion on how we’d like it split.
Here is what I have to propose so far:
Amazon lists the paperback at 379 pages, on my ipad it’s 340. There’s quite a bit at the back of the book we won’t read (post epilogue) and the first 14 pages are things like 登場人物 lists and diagrams, so not much actual reading. I converted my page counts to match the 379 book to get these counts, so hopefully somewhat accurate:
Week 1: Up to (not including) section 4 of ch. 1 for 13 ‘pages’ + 38 reading pages. Week 2: Ch. 1 section 4 through end of ch. 1; 59 pages Week 3: Ch. 2 up to section 4; 39 pages Week 4: Ch. 2 section 4 through end of ch. 2; 29 pages Week 5: Ch. 3 up to section 3; 33 pages Week 6: Ch. 3 section 3 through end of ch. 3; 44 pages Week 7: Ch. 4 up to section 3; 34 pages Week 8: Ch. 4 section 3 through end of ch. 4 + ‘読者への挑戦’; 18 pages Week 9: Ch. 5 up to section 3; 52 pages Week 10: Ch. 5 section 3 through end of ch5 + epilogue: 22 pages
The ending was a bit awkward to break up as I suspect the 挑戦 is supposed to be a cliffhanger / please speculate here thing and there’s only a couple breaks in chapter 5. The 挑戦 ends at ~290 and the section breaks in chapter 5 are at page ~295 and at ~342.
Character list
This is a wiki, feel free to add but be mindful of spoilers
You’re right, this schedule is a bit ugly. Don’t have a copy on hand yet, so I can’t quite help with checking the ToC myself. What’s all the post-epilogue stuff? Is it unrelated to the novel?
The emoji in the title is hilarious, by the way. XD
解説 (I almost never read those. It’s basically commentary about the book from some other person I typically don’t know), 著者紹介 (ie, about the author), and 奥付 (publication stuff).
I think 解読 can be interesting and helpful sometimes, especially for older works. But yeah it makes sense to keep it out of the official reading requirements (people can always read and discuss it on their own if they care)
A reminder that there is an audiobook for this novel; you can definitely find it on US audible. Anyone planning to listen as they read? I’m thinking I might do so.
Yeah! It’s included in the Audible Japan subscription I already have, so that’s convenient. Not really sure yet if I like the narration - I might be a little picky… Still, it’s gonna be nice to have!
Scheduling talk seems quiet so here is the cadence poll, please do let me know if you have concerns:
Cadence 1: 10 weeks: 38 (see notes in top post), 59, 39, 29, 33, 44, 34, 18, 52, 22
Cadence 2: 9 weeks: 38 (see notes in top post), 59, 39, 29, 33, 44, 52, 52, 22
Cadence 1
Cadence 2
I just desire to click a poll
0voters
And just for curiosity’s sake, I think I’ll start including this poll as well:
I haven’t yet chimed in because I haven’t yet bought my copy, but I’m not entirely happy with how there are 59 pages in the first week and only 22 in the last one. Seems to me like many people will probably finish reading in week 8 - it’s difficult to stop when you’re this close to the conclusion. I’m sure it’s very awkward to split, judging by the chapter sizes, but if I have a better idea after I look at the book I’ll let you all know.
Okay, got the book, and here are the rough page counts based on the Bookwalker web version (so not dependent on font size)*:
( * Note: I ignored pages that only had a couple of lines)
Chapter
Length
Prologue
2
Chapter 1-1
15
Chapter 1-2
12
Chapter 1-3
9
Chapter 1-4
17
Chapter 1-5
18
Chapter 1-6
22
Chapter 2-1
8
Chapter 2-2
13
Chapter 2-3
22
Chapter 2-4
12
Chapter 2-5
20
Chapter 3-1
14
Chapter 3-2
11
Chapter 3-3
9
Chapter 3-4
24
Chapter 3-5
13
Chapter 4-1
17
Chapter 4-2
20
Chapter 4-3
17
Intermission
2
Chapter 5-1
5
Chapter 5-2
50
Chapter 5-3
14
Epilogue
9
Now, based on the above, my proposed schedule is as follows:
Week 1
Prologue+1-1+1-2
29 pages
Week 2
1-3+1-4
26 pages
Week 3
1-5+1-6
40 pages
Week 4
2-1+2-2+2-3
43 pages
Week 5
2-4+2-5
32 pages
Week 6
3-1+3-2+3-3
34 pages
Week 7
3-4+3-5
37 pages
Week 8
4-1+4-2+4-3+幕間
56 pages
Week 9-10
(5-1+5-2)+(5-3+Epilogue)
55+23 pages
We have to stop at the 幕間, because that’s the invitation to the reader to solve the mystery. If we don’t stop there, we’ll miss out on all the fun detective work. After that, there is this 50-page subchapter between two much shorter sections, so it’s a little awkward to split. I suspect not many people will want to stop so close to the end, but it’s a significant increase in length, so we could maybe give that last part two weeks and everyone can finish at their own pace. How does it all sound?
Edit: I realize it’s a little difficult to compare, as the page counts do not align exactly, so here is @cat 's proposed schedule using my page counts for easier comparison:
Oh hey, I’m the first physical book reader
I actually was planning to try an ebook for once, but my old Kindle 5 won’t connect to internet anymore to send files to it D: back to the ol’ dead tree version for me
Ok, this was really difficult for me to visualize so I had to put it in a spreadsheet. Too many different versions of page numbers and uncounted pages due to pictures and what not. In case it helps anyone else, here is that, I standardized on @omk3 's page count for simplicity:
I’m listing them both as 9 weeks as the 9/10th week in B is the last thread to be opened and we would leave it open for later arrival anyways. If we go with option B I will make sure to open the next club voting cycle according to 10 weeks, but for comparison sake this was the easiest to read.
Don’t have a copy on hand yet, so I can’t quite help with checking the ToC myself. What’s all the post-epilogue stuff? Is it unrelated to the novel?
emoji in the title is hilarious, by the way. XD
Still, it’s gonna be nice to have!
it’s been a long day. yes, you state that is what you’re suggesting further down your post
